It's Cold in the Rockies...

So we went to bed last night and we had our blankets on, but we were just wearing our normal sleeping clothes and it was comfortable. We went to bed at 9:00 and it was still a little bright outside. Then we woke up in the middle of the night freezing, because the temperature dropped into the 30's. We put on our coats and I put on my toboggan. I slept pretty well after that, but I don't think Kate ever got comfortable. We woke up around 7:00 and it was still cold. I guess that's just going to be par for the course for the next few weeks.

We started our day by driving over to another section of the park called Jenny Lake. On the drive over, we saw an entire herd of elk grazing in a pasture. Kate saw a mother with her baby. Unfortunately, we had to be at our destination at a certain time, so we couldn't stop for pictures. There are a lot of glacial lakes here and they are all amazing. The water is so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom at a pretty large depth. We read in the park newspaper that a ranger would take you on a hike to Inspiration Point and explain the formation of the Tetons, which we thought would be neat. We met the ranger and started on our way up the 1 mile hike to Inspiration Point.

A little ways into the hike, we came upon a creek/river winding its way through the canyon. The water was all from the snow melting and it was raging. It was some pretty impressive white water.


Next we came to a place called Hidden Falls which was beautiful. The water is very cold and it sprays you as you stand under it, so we didn't stay long. I've got some great video of the falls and the river, but the connection is too slow to upload them where we are. I'll try to get them up later.


We started to go up along the path and we made it to the first spot, called Exclamation Point, named for the spectacular view.


We went further up still to a point called Perspiration Point, because by this time you're sweating quite a bit. The trail is a bit vertical here, so we started to really feel the hike.


At last, we made it up to the top of Inspiration Point. It's easy to see where the name comes from. The final path is a but precarious, to quote the ranger. It's about 4 feet wide and has a 200 foot fall on the right. The trail was built by the CCC during the depression. The destination was worth all the work though.

We decided not to take the ferry back to the trailhead, and instead we hiked 3 miles back to our car. We were sweating a bit on the way back, and the clear water looked very inviting. We decided not to jump in since the water temperature is still below 60 degrees. It was a good hike and we got treated to a marmot that posed for us.


Kate's a little jealous of me since every third person we walk by comments on my Appalachian shirts. It identifies us to other North Carolinians, which there are a surprising amount of here. And, other people comment about our big win over Michigan. The Ohio State fans are especially friendly. Kate wants to wear an App shirt so she can be as popular as me, but I'm going to keep the spotlight to myself.

We heard talk of a mother moose and her baby in the area so we were pretty disappointed when we got back to the parking area and hadn't seen a glimpse of her. Then, we saw a bunch of people gathered on a bridge, and then we saw the moose with her baby. It was just for a couple of seconds, but it was great. We didn't get a photo of her, but we're getting up tomorrow to go looking for animals along the Snake River, so hopefully we'll have some good pics for you tomorrow.

After lunch, we ran into a bit of rain, so we retreated to the tent for a little nap. We went to the Jackson Lake Lodge to use the Internet, and ran into a major thunderstorm. Hopefully our tent will be there when we get back. There was a wedding taking place in the lodge, which was interesting to watch the hustle and bustle. They have free wi-fi here, so hopefully we'll post tomorrow night.

That's it for today. Hopefully more to come tomorrow.

~Andy